Site Navigation

Site Mobile Navigation

Obama Signs Bill Intended to Promote Free Press

Luke Sharrett/The New York TimesPresident Obama was joined in the Oval Office by members of Daniel Pearl’s family, including his widow Mariane, and the son he never met, Adam.

Updated:President Obama signed legislation on Monday intended to promote free press around the world, a bipartisan measure inspired by the murder in Pakistan of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter, shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act requires the State Department to expand its scrutiny of media restrictions and intimidation as part of its annual review of human rights in each country. Among other things, the department will be required to determine whether foreign governments participate in or condone violations of press freedom.

“This legislation, in a very modest way, I think puts us clearly on the side of journalistic freedom,” Mr. Obama said. After thanking the bill’s sponsors, he added: “I particularly want to thank the Pearl family, who have been so outspoken and so courageous in sending a clear message that, despite Daniel’s death, his vision of a well-informed citizenry that is able to make choices and hold governments accountable, that that legacy lives on.”

Mr. Obama was joined in the Oval Office by Mr. Pearl’s widow, Mariane, and the son he never met, Adam, who was born several months after his father’s death and will turn eight later this month. Mr. Pearl’s parents, Judea and Ruth, and sisters, Michelle and Tamara, were also on hand.

Mr. Pearl, a veteran correspondent for the Journal, was reporting on terrorist groups in Pakistan when he was kidnapped and beheaded in early 2002. Four men were convicted in Pakistan soon afterward and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, told American investigators in 2007 that he killed Mr. Pearl.

The Obama administration’s decision last year to put Mr. Mohammed on trial in New York drew criticism from Mr. Pearl’s family, which said that giving a terrorist leader such a platform to publicize his ideology would send the wrong message. After a torrent of criticism, the administration has now put plans for the trial on hold while it looks for another location.

The ceremony on Monday raised some eyebrows as well because the White House restricted media access as the president signed a free press bill. The event was open only to a pool of reporters and photographers who report back to their colleagues. It also came at a time when Mr. Obama’s administration is seeking to force a New York Times reporter, James Risen, to testify about his sources for a book in which he reported on a secret effort to undermine Iran’s nuclear program.

Mr. Obama lately has become something of a media critic, regularly bemoaning what he sees as divisive, shallow coverage, particularly on cable television. “Today’s 24-7 echo chamber amplifies the most inflammatory sound bites louder and faster than ever before,” he told graduating seniors at the University of Michigan this month. (How he knows, of course, is an intriguing question given that on Monday at an unrelated event, he told an audience: “I know you’ll be surprised that we don’t watch the news shows.”)

But it never hurts to stand up for free press in other countries. The legislation he signed on Monday had support from across the aisle, sponsored by Senator Chris Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, and Representatives Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, and Mike Pence, Republican of Indiana, the co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus for Freedom of the Press.

According to Reporters Without Borders, an advocacy group, 11 journalists have been killed and 164 kidnapped so far in 2010.

Chip Reid, a CBS News correspondent, tried to exercise his press freedom by asking the president a question about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. “Speaking of press freedom, could you answer a couple of questions on BP?” Mr. Reid asked.

“You’re certainly free to ask them, Chip,” Mr. Obama replied.

“Will you answer them?” Mr. Reid asked. “How about a question on Iran?”

“We won’t be answering,” the president responded. “I’m not doing a press conference today.”

President Obama drew criticism on Thursday when he said, “we don’t have a strategy yet,” for military action against ISIS in Syria. Lawmakers will weigh in on Mr. Obama’s comments on the Sunday shows.Read more…